You’ve seen it on Law and Order or one of the other cops-and-lawyers shows.
The suspect claims he didn’t do it. “Then you won’t mind taking a lie detector test to clear your name,” suggest the detectives.
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Famous fabulous creatures: Bigfoot and Nessie
A whole area of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims—and thus also of skeptical research—concerns the claims of cryptozoologists.
Tags: Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster —
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Ockham's Razor: How I became a skeptic at the movies
You could say I lost my gullibility at the movies. It was at in a movie theatre some years ago I was first exposed to the most useful guideline for dealing with extraordinary ideas, whether they be paranormal, scientific, religious or political.
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Canadian connection for the Kecksburg UFO
The Kecksburg Crash is the “New Roswell”, according to a recent spate of sensational television documentaries.
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Calculating Christ: The discovery of the 'Lost Tomb of Jesus'
The Lost Tomb of Jesus documentary has made a public sensation. A DVD of the film has also been released and a book adapted from the documentary (entitled The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History, no less) is also available now. (more…)
Tags: Jesus —
Estimating probabilities and being 'right' or 'wrong'
It is mid-June in 2004 and a federal election campaign is in full swing. The newspapers have Canada’s two main parties in a dead heat. Here’s a conversation between a friend and myself, starting with the friend:
Tags: Politics, Statistics —
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Do skeptics know nothing — or everything?
There are several misconceptions or accusations that confront skeptics constantly.
The top two in my experience are (1) “Skeptics don’t believe anything” and (2) “Skeptics think they know everything”. Strangely, these charges often come from the same sources.
Can a skeptic believe in God?
Premises regarding skepticism:
A skeptic bases belief upon evidence and reason. He or she uses critical inquiry—the scientific method—to examine claimed phenomena. A skeptic holds beliefs provisionally, rather than absolutely, accepting that new evidence and reason may be found to require a revision in beliefs.
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What are the odds? Greater than you think
« Newer Posts At the August 2001 meeting of skeptics in Toronto, I carried out an experiment to illustrate how poorly people estimate the chances of coincidences occurring. I asked people entering the meeting to give their birth dates in months and days, like August 12 or October 31.
Tags: Statistics —
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